(a) Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a swing-type cover opening and closing device for a mobile phone. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to a swing-type cover opening and closing device for a mobile phone that can pivot a cover of the mobile phone in a semi-automated mode in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Generally, portable terminals such as a mobile phone, a PDA, a notebook, a DMB phone, and the like are widely used in order to wirelessly use services such as communications and broadcasting in motion rather than at a fixed position.
The portable terminals are one kind of important necessities for obtaining convenience of life in the information age. In particular, mobile phones have come into wide use by elementary, middle, and high school students, and the aged.
As described above, as the demand and the number of users for portable terminals rapidly increases, consumers who use them continue to expect products with new designs and new functions.
The portable terminal includes a main body with a keypad and a cover including a liquid crystal display that are joined to each other to be openable and closable. In general, the portable terminal may be classified as a folder-type portable terminal, a hinge-type portable terminal, a sliding-type portable terminal, and a swing-type portable terminal.
Further, a digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) services have been recently commercialized, a swing-type cover opening and closing device having a structure in which the cover is opened to the main body while being pivoted by a swing device formed between the main body and the cover in case of pivoting the cover to the main body at a predetermined angle so as to easily watch multimedia such as photographs and motion pictures has been largely popular with consumers.
However, as most swing-type cover opening and closing devices for the mobile phone in the related art are configured to open and close the cover in a semi-automated mode, due to a problem in that the size and thickness of a product and the number of components increases, the miniaturization and slimness of the mobile phone are hindered. Therefore, technology development is keenly required to solve the above-described problem.
Since the cover opening and closing device for the mobile phone in the related art generally has a structure in which the cover is opened and closed in the semi-automated mode by adopting a cam of a surface contact mode and an elastic member, an overall structure of the cover opening and closing device for the mobile phone is complicated, and opening and closing operations of the cover by the surface contact of the cam are not stable.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.